May 10, 2010

Haaretz: Iran's Ahmadinejad Playing Obama For A Fool

While not exactly the words Haaretz uses, it comes close enough that this is the clear point being made. How else to interpret a report that says Iran is getting away with more and more as the U.S. president stumbles through his failed brand of politically correct diplomacy?

[...] with only sheer luck preventing some of the bombing and hijacking attempts from turning into mass terror events. Obama's promise of a changed foreign policy is crashing more and more against the rocks of international threats. The American ineptitude in the face of Iran, the Taliban and Al-Qaida in Pakistan, along with the other hubs of Islamic terror, is putting Obama and Clinton's promise of a diplomacy of "soft power" or "smart power" in question.

The promise of a dialogue with the Muslim world did not bring about a change in the hate felt toward the United States or diminish the threats against it. The "active diplomacy" led in face of Iran is drawing contempt in the nuclear arena, and the campaign trail's two main promises of improving multilateral diplomacy in the UN and other international organizations are not reaching fruition: nuclear disarmament and the global advancement of human rights.

Middle East countries have already drawn their own conclusions, and not only in regards to the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. The Al-Jazeera network, a trusty barometer of the Persian Gulf and the entire region, had already taken on itself a strategic decision based on the recognition that the United States would not confront Iran head on. In its analysis of Ahmadinejad's UN address, Al-Jazeera presenters said that the Iranian president had been successful in conveying to the world that the aggressor was the United States, while the rest of the world was the victim. A pundit on the Qatar-based network warned of a day in which the UN and the NPT conference would become a circus where the entire international community sits paralyzed and watches on as the United States and Iran engage in an obsessive battle. That's all Ahmadinejad needs to continue his trapeze act in the UN.

While not exactly the words Haaretz uses, it comes close enough that this is the clear point being made. How else to interpret a report that says Iran is getting away with more and more as the U.S. president stumbles through his failed brand of politically correct diplomacy?\n\nMoshe Beker writes: Obama is faltering at Ahmadinejad's trapeze act:

[...] with only sheer luck preventing some of the bombing and hijacking attempts from turning into mass terror events. Obama's promise of a changed foreign policy is crashing more and more against the rocks of international threats. The American ineptitude in the face of Iran, the Taliban and Al-Qaida in Pakistan, along with the other hubs of Islamic terror, is putting Obama and Clinton's promise of a diplomacy of \"soft power\" or \"smart power\" in question.\n\nThe promise of a dialogue with the Muslim world did not bring about a change in the hate felt toward the United States or diminish the threats against it. The \"active diplomacy\" led in face of Iran is drawing contempt in the nuclear arena, and the campaign trail's two main promises of improving multilateral diplomacy in the UN and other international organizations are not reaching fruition: nuclear disarmament and the global advancement of human rights.\n\nMiddle East countries have already drawn their own conclusions, and not only in regards to the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. The Al-Jazeera network, a trusty barometer of the Persian Gulf and the entire region, had already taken on itself a strategic decision based on the recognition that the United States would not confront Iran head on. In its analysis of Ahmadinejad's UN address, Al-Jazeera presenters said that the Iranian president had been successful in conveying to the world that the aggressor was the United States, while the rest of the world was the victim. A pundit on the Qatar-based network warned of a day in which the UN and the NPT conference would become a circus where the entire international community sits paralyzed and watches on as the United States and Iran engage in an obsessive battle. That's all Ahmadinejad needs to continue his trapeze act in the UN.